Star Trek: Voyager 05x17 - The Disease

Voyager assists Varro - an alien species who live in a huge spaceship for the last 400 years. Kim falls in love with one Varros females, Tal, who are (as we learn) have surprisingly different physiology compared to humans, making sex weird.

Later we learn that some Varro don’t want to live aboard the ship, but are forbidden from leaving.

Impressions

A Kim episode, finally! He is one of the most underutilized characters in the entire series, so it’s always nice when he is not only background for Paris.

I loved the first part of the episode. It’s infantile and funny. STV lacks the humour of TNG.

And then we got the Space STD which was extremely unexpected turn of events. Not the smartest part of the episode, but it was the funniest idea I’ve seen here in a long time.

Unfortunately, the subplot 2 is underdeveloped. Some part of Varro want to leave the collective. We’ve got terrorists, resistance and all the jazz. Remember when part of the fleet of Battlestar Galactica decided to stop pursuing earth? Remember how much has happened as a result? Nothing of this magnitude happens here. I think this is the weakest aspect here - great idea, but a low effort execution.

If those were two separate episodes - one completely of the wall, one serious and deep - I’d love it. Both stories deserve so much more. I left unsatisfied.

Doctor Factor

Present, but just as unsatisfying as the entire episode.